The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-12-27
they gained no taste for wine or
brandy at the home table,

10 now Is cOIne our lOYIuISL Ie3SL,
Let every man be jolly,
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
! And every post with holly.
/ Without the door let sorrow lie
And if, for Geld, it hap to die,
Well bury it in Christmas pie,
And evermore be merry.
Happy, happy Christmas, that can
win US back to the delusions of our
childish days that can recall to the
aged man the pleasures of youth that
can transport the sailor and the travel
er thousands of miles away, back to
his own freside and his quiet home.
This is the Christmas time and the
merry holiday season, and all that.
but still We claim that it is out of
place for an undertaken to get into
the swim and advertise taking novel
ties in holiday goods. "-Burdette.
OUGHT "sANTA" TO BE ABOLISHED.
A correspondent of that most ex-
cellent magazine, Babyheod, having
raised the question whether "the San
ia Claus myth can be made compatible
with the unvarying frankness and
truthfulness in the government of
children which are absolutely neces-
sary to retain their respect" the
editor prints several replies, which
show a wide diversity of opinion On
the subject. We quote few.
DIR. John Hall, of New York,
writes emphatically:
| do not think there is any need for
a long statement as to the wisdom of
telling little children lies about Santa
Claus or any other saint. Lies never
do good. The danger is that when
the little children find out the lies-as
of course they do in time-they will
be tempted to class with them the re-
ligious truths which they are taught.
True, the lies about Santa Claus and
the like may give them temporary
pleasure but enjoyment bought
through lies is ''gold bought too DEAR"
if indeed it can be called gold.
Ga the other hand, DR.. VIM. 81.
Taylor. of the Broadway Tabernacle,
expresses himself as follows
| cannot see that any harm is done
by references to and presentation of
Santa Claus at Christmas. In the
Sunday-school of the Bethany church,
which is supper ted by the Broadway
Tabernacle and does its work ia
Tenth avenue, we have had Santa
Claus every year since [ have heen in
the country, and, so far as | have
been able to discover, with no detri-
ment to the truthfulness or truthlov-
ingness of the scholars. The purism
which would rule that out of all
Christ mas celebrations, would deprive
the nursery of all such "classics" as
Jack and the "Bean.Stalk," Jack
the Giant. Killer, "Gulliver's Trav-
els" and the like ; would overlap en-
tirely the youthful Imagination
would put an end to all childish play
ing at this or that !; and would, in a
word. take the poetry out of child
hood, and make it all only very dull
prose. | am not sure but that, fairly
carried out, it would also taboo all
the literature of imagination, and de-
stroy everything in the shape of
book that is not literal fact. Perhaps
your correspondent has not sufficient
ly pondered the distinction between
truth and fact, and has failed to per-
ceive that a thing may be true without
being a fact. The proper sntithesis to
fact is fiction, and fiction may teach a
deep truth. Santa Claus is fiction
but the truth beneath this fiction,
which sooner or later comes to the sur
face, is love-the love of parents for
children, teachers for scholars, and
Christians for each other and prob
ably in the end that truth is more eff
fectively taught because of the i'm
preston made by Santa Claus in the
beginning.
Materfamilias finds this the happy
medium
At the children's halfhour before
bedtime L am always in the habit of
telling mine some little stories as soon
as the first of December sets in. These
stories are all about ''make-believe
man named Santa Claus" whom the
little German children called Kriss
Kringle ; all the wonders that he is
to do are recounted, then
The Night before Christmas is read
to them, and finally Christmas carol
is sung. thereby giving praise to Him
to whom we owe our Christmas day.